Our Lord of Chaos
by cornh8r
Summary: Nina does come back to Anubis House after defeating Senkhara. Over the break, her powers continued to grow, and she will soon find that she has a new threat to deal with. A threat that is more dangerous than anything before.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: it's been a while since I last saw the show all the way through, so forgive me if I've gotten a few details wrong. I don't own House of Anubis or any of the other versions of that show.

When Eddie got back to Anubis House after the break, he was glad to see that neither Fabian nor Patricia were around. After eight hours on a plane and with the five-hour time difference, he did not have the energy necessary to deal with those two. His friends hadn't done anything wrong, but he just knew that if he saw them, he wouldn't be able to keep his composure.

'God,' he thought to himself, 'I can't wait until Nina gets here so we can deal with this together.'

Eddie and Patricia had broken up over the summer, and while it had been fairly amicable, considering the circumstances, it was still somewhat uncomfortable for him to see her, especially as he suspected she still had feelings for him.

"Hey, Eddie, mate, good to see you."

'Oh great,' Eddie thought, 'the second to last person I wanted to see.'

"Fabian, dude, how have you been?"

"Good, good." Fabian said and then trailed off. "Hey, so have you seen Nina yet?"

'Typical Fabian,' thought Eddie bitterly. 'Not only does he show up when I don't want to see him, but he also brings up the subject I want to talk about the absolute least.'

Eddie ran his hand through his hair and sighed. All he wanted was to escape the conversation and go to sleep so he could deal with this when he was less delirious.

"Nah, man, haven't seen her. She'll probably turn up sooner or later though."

Actually, Eddie knew that Nina's flight had been canceled and she wouldn't get to Anubis until the next day, but he knew Fabian would question why he knew that, and Eddie had a feeling Fabian would not like the answer.

"Anyways, I am super jet lagged, so I'm gonna hit the sack and get a bit of rest before dinner."

"Okay Eddie," Fabian laughed. "I'll try and keep clear of our room until Trudy says dinner is ready."

"Thanks bro," Eddie said, grumbling as he hauled his heavy luggage down the hall to their shared room.

Eddie barely had enough energy to kick off his shoes and toss his phone on the floor before he slipped into blissful unconsciousness.

* * *

Fabian chuckled as he watched Eddie trudge into their room. Eddie had never been much of a morning person, so the next few days as he readjusted to GMT would be difficult for the both of them. As it was wont to do when he thought about anything to do with American, Fabian's mind soon turned to the topic of his girlfriend, Nina.

While they had both changed a lot since they got together the first time, he still felt that something was different between them this time. After Sibuna had defeated Senkhara, Nina's gran had shown up, and the two of them had caught up well into the night, preventing Fabian from having the opportunity to talk to her. The next day they finally were able to have the conversation he had been waiting for, and while they did agree to give their relationship another go, something felt different about it. The first time they had gotten together had been so magical, Fabian almost felt like it was a dream. Eventually though, they both woke up and broke up. He hoped that since the start of their relationship this time had been more practical, it was a sign that Fabina would last.

He and Nina had spoken on and off throughout the summer, but they were both busy and transatlantic plane tickets were expensive. He just hoped that when they saw each other again, everything would be the way it had been before.

Fabian turned his head as he heard the creaking of the stairs behind him and saw that it was Patricia descending.

"Hey Fabian. Has anyone else shown up yet?" she asked as she came to a stop beside him, bumping his shoulders slightly in greeting.

"Well Eddie just got here, so that just leaves Nina and then everyone should be here," he replied bumping her shoulders in return. He was glad that he and Patricia had grown closer over the past few years. While she could be rude and abrasive to people she didn't trust, if she counted you as a friend, she would go to the ends of the earth for you.

"That's weird. I talked to Nina a week ago and she said that she had a red eye and would be at Anubis House by eleven AM." Patricia replied frowning slightly.

"It's quarter three now." Fabian responded after checking a clock. "She definitely should have been here by now. Do you think we should be worried?"

"Let's call her and see where she is. I bet she just got stuck in customs longer than expected and is on her way here now." Patricia said before pulling out her phone and dialing Nina's number.

"Huh." Said Patricia after a minute.

"What? What's going on? Why did you say 'huh'?" Fabian asked quickly, his panic starting to spiral out of control.

"It's just her phone is off. It sent me straight to voicemail"

"Nina never has her phone off. She promised me after I thought Senkhara pushed her in the pit that she would always be reachable to that nothing like that would happen again."

Fabian was really starting to worry at this point. Had something happened to Nina after they had last talked? He really didn't know what he would do with himself if something happened to her.

"I talked to Eddie earlier and he said he hadn't heard from her either." Fabian responded, making a conscious effort to keep himself from pacing. "Maybe we should go talk to him to see if there's anything he knows that we don't."

Patricia frowned to herself before nodding.

"Good idea Fabian. After all they were both in America together, he might know if anything happened to her."

Fabian didn't like the idea that Eddie might know more about his girlfriend than he did, but for Nina's sake, he was willing to give it a go.

As they walked into Fabian and Eddie room, Patricia tripped over Eddie's backpack, which had been left on the floor by the door.

"Wow, Slimeball isn't even here for five minutes and he's already making a mess."

As she went to right the fallen backpack, she noticed something had fallen out of a side pocket.

"Is that Nina's locket?" Fabian asked incredulously. He was willing to accept that Eddie might know more about Nina's travel plans just due to proximity, but he could not think of a single good reason for him to have her most treasured possession.

"Looks like Eddie might know more about Nina than he let on," Patricia said with a frown. She handed the necklace to Fabian, who put it in his pocket possessively, unwilling to let it go back into Eddie's possession even for a minute.

"Look, over there on the floor, it's his mobile. If he knows anything about Nina that he wouldn't want us to know, it would be on there."

"I don't know Patricia," Fabian responded worriedly, "that's a pretty big invasion of privacy. If we're wrong and Eddie finds out, he will never forgive us."

"What's worth more to you: Nina's safety or Eddie's friendship? Besides, Eddie is Nina's Osirian, he understands wanting her safe just as much as you do?"

Fabian did not like the comparison between his feelings for Nina and Eddie's but he conceded the point and grabbed the mobile, gesturing for Patricia to follow him as he went back into the hallway. "Eddie is a deep sleeper, but not that deep. We don't want him to wake up in the middle of us riffling through his phone."

"Fair enough," responded Patricia. "So? What does it say?"

"Well Eddie put a password on his mobile, so I can't get in, but there is an unread text from Nina on his lock screen."

"And?" asked Patricia impatiently.

Fabian handed her the mobile with a scowl and stomped away, glaring daggers at the room in which Eddie was currently sleeping. On the screen there was a text from Nina Martin.

"Trust me on this, it's for the best. We need to keep this to ourselves. Not even Fabian and Patricia can know, it will only make things worse." Patricia read the text aloud, growing angrier with every word. Sure, she had been the one to break up with Eddie, but it hurt that he had moved on so fast, and with one of her best friends no less.

"How could he?" Fabian fumed. "He is supposed to be my best friend and then he goes and makes a move on my girlfriend! I can't believe this!"

Before he could wake Eddie up and confront him, however, the rest of Anubis House started to trickle in through the hallway and into the common room.

"Amber's party, I completely forgot about that." Patricia was hurt that her friend and her ex-boyfriend would betray her like that, but she cared about them enough to give them a chance to explain themselves. Fabian on the other hand, seemed ready to punch Eddie out then and there. "We should go in and catch up with our friends and we can finish talking about this later. I'll go put Eddie's mobile back and wake him up for the party. If you go in there, I'm worried that would will lose it."

"Fine." Fabian said stiffly. "Whatever." He shot one last murderous look at the bedroom door before turning on his heel and joining the others for the party.

'I hope you know what you're doing Nina,' Patricia thought to herself and she headed back into Eddie's room, 'because if you are doing what Fabian thinks you're doing, nothing is ever going to be the same.'

* * *

Fabian knew that he be trying harder to interact with his housemates, but he couldn't stop thinking about what he'd read. Nina would never cheat on him, would she? Things were just finally working out for them; would she really throw that away for Eddie? The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and by the time Eddie entered the room with Patricia on his heels, he could barely contain his temper. The last straw was when he overheard Amber ask Trudy where Nina was, and Eddie, who was right next to her, pretended like he had no idea. It was all Fabian could do not to shove Eddie too hard as he pushed him out of the room into the hallway, Amber's party be damned.

"Why do you keep telling people you don't know where Nina is? I know that you know, why won't you just admit it?" Fabian knew that he was starting to shout, but he could hardly bring himself to care.

"Fabian, buddy, I have no idea what you're talking about," Eddie replied nervously.

"Don't lie to me!" Fabian was practically shaking with rage. He shoved his hand into his pocket and tore the locket out. "I know all about your 'summer romance.'" He could barely keep the sneer off his face at the thought of it. "I saw the texts, I know what you two have been up to. Why don't you just admit it?"

"Listen, Fabian, I don't know what you think you know, but I promise you you're wrong." Eddie could barely get the words out before Fabian leapt at him, intent on pummeling his face into the ground.

Alfie, who had heard the raised voices and had been watching from the doorway, caught Fabian and pulled him back before he could make contact with Eddie's face.

"How could you do this?" Fabian spat, his face turning red. "I thought we were friends."

"Okay, okay, you're right. I do know more than I said, but it isn't for the reason you think. Nina should be here soon and she deserves to tell you herself, but I will explain some of it if you just calm down. This isn't something the entire house needs to know about, but they will if you don't stop shouting."

Fabian looked at Alfie, who nodded, and turned back to Eddie with a sigh.

"Fine. I'll listen. I'm not sure I believe you, but I'm willing to wait for Nina to explain herself."

Alfie released Fabian, and Eddie sighed and followed Fabian into their room.

* * *

One day. All Eddie had wanted was one day before this came out so that he and Nina could back each other up. Of course, Fabian just had to find the stupid locket and jump to conclusions. Had he mentioned something about texts? Did Fabian go through his phone? Eddie sighed and pushed that to the back of his mind to deal with later. He clearly had bigger problems. 'Jeez Nina, of all the times to be late.'

"Okay Fabian, what exactly do you think is happening?"

Fabian scowled before rolling his shoulders and turning to face Eddie.

"I think," he said sarcastically, "that you and Nina have been dating over the summer and were planning on lying to us about it."

"Wow okay, you must have a really poor opinion of me if you think I would do that to you, let alone Nina. You know how much she cares about you. Yes, we have been keeping in contact over the summer, but not for the reason you think."

Fabian still looked skeptical. "Then why would you need to lie about it?"

Eddie ran his hand through his hair, frustrated at how stubborn Fabian was being. Honestly the things he put up with for Nina.

"We've been doing Paragon-Osirian things. After the whole showdown with Senkhara, I reached out to Nina to see if she could help me control my powers. I'll let her explain the other parts because, really, she deserves to be the one to tell you, but rest assured, we have kept it strictly platonic."

Eddie felt a little bit had about lying to Fabian, but it wasn't really a lie per say, so much as it was just leaving stuff out, and really, Fabian deserved it after going through his phone like that.

"You promise that's all that's happened?" Fabian seemed desperate for what he was saying to be true, but still couldn't quite believe it.

"Promise," Eddie replied, mentally crossing his fingers.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N Disclaimer: all characters and plot points from House of Anubis belong to Nickelodeon; don't own, don't sue_

As anyone could have predicted, it was somewhat uncomfortable in Eddie and Fabian's room that night. Fabian had offered an awkward and half-hearted apology but Eddie could tell his friend was still somewhat guarded. His friend? He wasn't really sure if he and Fabian were really still friends anymore, but Eddie decided he would at least try and keep their relationship afloat, if only for Nina's sake.

Eddie was pulled from his musings by a voice from the other side of the room.

"So, uh," Fabian began hesitantly, "do you know when tomorrow Nina gets in, then?"

"I know her flight got canceled and that she was being moved to a later one, but I don't know which one specifically."

Eddie got the feeling that his roommate would continue to repeat a variation on that question until he could see Nina for himself. After an uncomfortably long pause, Fabian spoke again.

"Umm, Eddie. So, the thing is, well. I didn't really mean to. I shouldn't have jumped to the conclusions that I did, and really, I should have known that you and Nina would never do something like that."

Eddie stared at the ceiling for a moment before deciding he probably wouldn't be able to go to sleep unless they talked about it, so with a sigh, he rolled over and looked at Fabian.

"You know that Nina's a great girl and you don't want to lose that, I get it. Just next time maybe don't be so quick with the punches. Can't have you damaging something as perfect as my face after all."

Fabian huffed out a laugh before growing quiet again.

"I really am sorry, mate."

There was silence between them after that, and within a few minutes, Fabian had fallen asleep.

"Yeah man," Eddie whispered to himself, "I am too."

* * *

Nina was relieved when she finally showed up to Anubis House. Eddie had filled her in on what had gone down between him and Fabian the night before, and she felt bad that he was forced to handle that on his own. The first thing she was going to do when she saw Fabian was explain to him that nothing had happened between her and Eddie, which hopefully would prevent another attack on Eddie's pretty face.

When she entered the house, the first person she saw was Amber, who was coming down the stairs.

"Nina, thank God. I don't know what is going on with Eddie and Fabian, but now that you're here, you can make them see reason. They almost ruined my party last night with their awful fight."

Nina laughed as she went to hug her best friend. Of course the most important part of the fiasco was how it had impacted her party.

"Amber, glad to see you too. I'm sorry I missed your party last night, but I did bring you a gift, so I hope that makes up for it."

"Nina," Amber exclaimed as she threw her arm around Nina's shoulder and guided her upstairs to their room, "you know me so well. I do hope it's something shiny. Alfie gave me dental floss, so he is on probation until he can come up with something suitable to replace it."

"Aww go easy on him, you know this isn't really his thing." Nina hoped that Alfie would buy something soon, because the last time the couple fought it was unbearable for everyone around them.

"I know," replied Amber with a laugh, "I'm just guilt tripping him so he'll get me something nice."

The girls continued to chat as Nina got settled, and then decided to head downstairs to get something to eat. Just as they were about to walk into the kitchen, they ran into Fabian.

"Nina," he said, seemingly in shock. He recovered quickly, however, because almost before Nina knew it, she was being enveloped in an almost bruisingly tight hug.

"Uh, hi Fabian," Nina mumbled from where her face was being squished into his chest, "Good to see you again."

Before she could say anything else, he sprung back and began talking at her anxiously.

"I was so worried when you didn't show up yesterday, and then I couldn't get a hold of you and no one else knew where you were either, and I thought you had been hurt, or kidnapped, or something else terrible had happened and—"

Nina decided to cut in before he could give himself a panic attack.

"I know, I heard the whole thing from Eddie. I'm here now though, and I'm fine, so clearly there's no need to worry."

When she looked back up at Fabian, his face had gone carefully blank, and his nostrils were flaring like they did when he was agitated.

"You've spoken to Eddie, then?" he asked in an odd voice.

"Yeah, and he explained everything, so there's no need to worry. I mean, you definitely shouldn't have gone through his phone, because that's not at all cool, but I understand your motivation even if I don't agree with your actions. Once we have some time to ourselves, Eddie and I can explain the rest of what's been going on."

"Right. You and Eddie can explain." There was still something off in the tone of Fabian's voice, but Nina was hungry and tired, and decided to ignore it. Fabian glanced behind her and mumbled something under his breath.

"Speak of the devil."

Nina turned to him frowning in confusion.

"Sorry, what was—"

Before she could finish, she felt arms drape over her shoulders from behind.

"Eddie, hey. How was your flight?" she asked as she turned to him with a smile.

"Better than yours, I'd bet. Did you get all the way to the airport before they canceled your flight, or were you lucky enough not to have left yet?" Eddie responded grinning down at her.

They continued to trade barbs and joke about whose airport was more frustrating as they walked into the kitchen to get dinner since the rest of the house had already eaten. When they sat down, Nina notice that Fabian had disappeared from behind them.

"Did you see Fabian leave?" she asked Eddie as she glanced around.

"No," he responded before changing the subject to whose team would make it to the World Series that year, which sufficiently distracted her for the rest of the meal.

"Well," Nina said as she finished clearing her dishes away, "as fun as it has been reminding you how much better the Braves are than your Pondscum, I think we should go tell Fabian what has been going on. As much as I didn't want to, he already knows some of it, so we might as well tell him the rest." Eddie looked away before replying.

"We aren't going to tell him everything are we? Even though we technically didn't do anything wrong doesn't mean he wouldn't still get mad."

"I don't think so," she responded with a frown. "Knowing would only make things worse. We can keep some parts to ourselves."

Eddie intently gazed off into space for a moment before nodding his head resolutely.

"Alright, let's go. No point putting it off any longer." He glanced over his shoulder at her with a sly grin. "And don't think I didn't notice your little dig at my team. The Metsies will sweep your Cowards come October and you'll be eating your words."

Spirits raised slightly, Nina squared her shoulders before walking towards the kitchen door.

* * *

Even though Eddie had somewhat cleared the air with Fabian the night before, he was still nervous as he entered the room with Nina. Like he had said before, technically, they hadn't done anything wrong, but he felt guilty nonetheless, especially since he knew that Fabian would not take the truth well.

"So," Fabian said after a tense pause, "what exactly is it that you need to tell me?"

Nina glanced at Eddie before going over to sit on the bed next to her boyfriend. Seeing that there was no more space on the bed and it would make things worse if he tried to make them move, Eddie grabbed his desk chair and straddled it, arms resting its back. He nodded at Nina to go ahead.

"After I was possessed by Senkhara, I noticed that my powers began to grow at a much faster rate than they had been before. I guess Eddie's powers are linked to mine because a week or so after Patricia left, he called me, asking for advice on how to deal with them.

"I flew up, so we could work on controlling them, which is how we noticed that we seemed to be stronger when we were closer together.

"So far we've noticed that we've been able to see ghosts more often, we have a certain amount of magical ability, although it's hard to control and really limited to only making a sort of shimmery shield. We also, uh-," she paused for a second and looked at Eddie before continuing.

"We've also noticed that we're getting more visions, but they only show what could happen, so they don't always come true."

"They do sometimes, right Nina?" Eddie interjected with a smirk, but schooled his features when Fabian glanced over at him questioningly.

"Yeah," she said, shooting Eddie another glance, this one annoyed, before continuing.

"I didn't want to tell you because I knew you would worry, but there was nothing you could have done then, so I didn't want you to know until you were with us and able to help."

With that, Fabian once again wrapped Nina up in a hug.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that without me, but we're together now, and I am going to do everything I can to help you."

Unwilling to witness the tender moment any longer, Eddie just looked at the ground.

 _I made some baseball references there in the middle, sorry if they're a little niche_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N Disclaimer: all characters and plot points from House of Anubis belong to Nickelodeon; don't own, don't sue_

After her emotionally draining conversation with Eddie and Fabian, Nina had finally been able to go to bed. She was still on east coast time, but after a full days of travel and uncomfortable confrontations, she was able to fall asleep pretty quickly.

She was shaken awake the next morning by Amber. Groaning, she glanced over at her alarm clock only to see that she was almost late for school.

'Crap,' she thought to herself, 'I've already missed two days of classes, there is no way I can miss anything else.'

She pulled on her uniform, ran a brush through her hair, and practically sprinted down the stairs into the kitchen. Everyone else had finished eating and were cleaning up, so Nina grabbed a bagel and put it in a napkin to eat on the walk to school.

"Morning," she said around a bite of her bagel as she caught up to Amber. "Has anything important happened that I missed?"

"Well," began Amber with a flourish, "Jara is still together but Peddie has split. Amfie is going strong, but I'm going to let Alfie grovel a bit more before I tell him that. Also—"

Nina cut her off. "No, I meant with school. I've missed a few days and I want to catch up."

"Oh," Amber drawled. "Well I haven't been paying that much attention, what will all the good gossip available, but we did get a new history teacher. He is as old as dirt and super boring. Even Mara has trouble paying attention."

"That's a shame," Nina sighed, "I was really hoping that class would be interesting this year."

"Now Nina, it's your turn. Give me an update on how Fabina is doing."

"Yeah, we're good," replied Nina absently.

Eddie walked by and they smiled at each other in greeting. 'We really should start practicing again,' she mused to herself. 'Maybe there's something in the Frobisher library that could help. Sarah was a Paragon too, she must have dealt with this at one point.'

Just then, she noticed that she was alone. She turned around and saw that Amber had stopped a few feet away, and was watching her with a strange look on her face.

"What?" Nina questioned.

"Nothing," murmured Amber. They walked the rest of the way to the school in silence. Still, throughout the day, Nina swore she could feel her friend's gaze boring into the side of her head.

As he walked into Anubis House after school, Eddie noticed Nina was sitting in the common room doing homework. He flopped down into the chair next to her and they sat for a few minutes in companionable silence. After a while, Eddie finally spoke.

"Fabian give you any trouble?" he asked without moving his gaze from the coffee table. Fabian had been normal enough to him when they had seen each other at school, but they weren't the ones who were supposed to be dating.

"Nah," said Nina, also without looking up. "He seems to have let it go for now, although if I know him, he won't give up so easily." She paused before continuing.

"Do you think we should bring him along when we go and practice?"

Eddie considered it before shaking his head.

"I don't think so. Maybe we can take him sometimes, but honestly? I think the more he sees, the easier it will be for him to put together the pieces. He deserves to hear it from us when the time is right."

She sighed before putting her notebook down and turning to face him.

"You're probably right. He doesn't know everything that we know, and if we go about this the wrong way, he will never forgive us. We should bring him when we go tonight though. It might make him feel like he's helping"

Eddie grunted his assent before deciding that talking about it any more would only make him frustrated, so he should try and get some rest if they were going to be going out that night. He slumped down into his chair and closed his eyes, only to jerk awake forty five minutes later, the remnants of vision still in his mind's eye.

After failing in his attempt to nap, he headed into his and Fabian's room to give his friend an update on the night's plan.

"So, after lights out, you, me, and Nina will meet in the kitchen and use the tunnels to sneak out. After that we can find somewhere secluded in the woods to practice."

Eddie wasn't at all surprised when Fabian had a different suggestion.

"Wouldn't it be smarter to stay in the tunnels? Not many people know about the tunnels, so there's less of a chance we'll get caught."

"We thought about that, but the people who are most likely to be watching us for suspicious behavior do know about the tunnels, so out best bet is to go somewhere they don't know about."

Fabian still seemed skeptical but didn't argue further. There was a knock on the door and Eddie turned around to see Nina poke her head in.

"Trudy sent me to tell you dinner is ready." Then she glanced at him and asked, "Did you tell Fabian the plan?"

"Yep," responded Eddie with false cheer, "we're all good to go."

While Fabian was thrilled with neither the location of the meeting, nor with eddies involvement, he was rather pleased that Nina seemed to really want him there. He knew that she still liked him. Why else would she invite him along? She clearly wanted to spend time with him.

After Victor gave his five minute warning, Fabian and Eddie waited for half an hour to make sure the coast was clear before sneaking out of their room into the kitchen. Nina was there waiting and beamed when she saw them. Him. It was Fabian she was happy to see, Eddie just happened to be standing there. Smiling slightly at the thought, he turned to see Nina and Eddie having a silent conversation. Once they noticed he was watching, they seemed to come to an agreement, although his roommate was noticeably unhappy.

"Alright," Nina announced cheerfully, "Let's go find a clearing."

The tunnel system was just as dusty as Fabian remembered, and secretly he was a little glad Eddie had vetoed his plan because there were too many bad memories associated with being underground for him to really be comfortable there. As he walked he kept sneaking glances at the two people in front of him. While he honestly did believe that they had been telling him the truth the night before, he was just as sure that there was something they weren't telling him. He wouldn't push them on it just yet; he trusted them to tell him when they were ready. He knew, however, that he probably wouldn't like what he heard.

Sooner than he expected, Fabian and his friends emerged from the tunnel system and headed for the woods. In an effort to distract himself from Nina and Eddie's whispering, he began to search for a clearing for them to practice in.

'That's funny, I don't think I recognize this part of the forest,' Fabian pondered to himself.

"Hey guys?" He called to the others, "Does any of this look familiar to you?"

Without waiting for a response, he walked over to an area that was less shadowy and ominous than everything around it. As soon as he entered the clearing, he gasped in astonishment. He had definitely never seen this before.

"Guys, you really need to see this," he breathed out, unable to overcome his awe.

"Guys!"

"What Fabian?" bellowed Eddie, "What could be so important that—" As he jogged up next to him, his friend trailed off.

"Oh my God," murmured Nina from beside him. He was so transfixed with the structure before him he hadn't even heard her walk up.

"What is it?" Eddie asked in quiet amazement.

"It looks like a temple," he replied as he walked over to check it out.

Before them stood a magnificent structure of limestone, rising out of the mists as if created by the earth goddess herself. Grand columns covered in etchings that stood at least twenty feet tall supported colossal blocks of stone inscribed with elaborate hieroglyphs. Ten foot walls surrounded the interior, which was also lined with columns. Sitting in the center of the temple, in a pool of moonlight, was an altar.

After exchanging dubious looks, the three headed into the temple to get a better look. Once they crossed the threshold, however, light began to emanate out from under the altar. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light. Once their eyes recovered, they could see that the once perfect alter now had a large fissure in the middle, from which red sand spilled. The fissure was still glowing slightly and next to him, Nina and Eddie gasped.

"What? What happened?" he questioned frantically.

Eddie and Nina glanced as each other with troubled looks on their faces before Nina replied.

"I'm not sure, but I think we just saw ghosts escape from the afterlife."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Disclaimer: all characters and plot points from House of Anubis belong to Nickelodeon; don't own, don't sue

Nina walked back to Anubis House in a daze. She was vaguely aware of Eddie and Fabian talking in muted tones behind her, but she kept her gaze ahead. She knew that if she acknowledged them, what they were saying, she would have to accept that it had started. Everything she and Eddie had seen in their visions had begun, which meant she only had so long before they would have to reveal all the things that they had been hiding. She knew it was inevitable, but she had hoped they had more time before everything fell apart.

When they got back to the kitchen, she mumbled something to the boys before heading upstairs to get some sleep. They had class early the next morning, but she also knew that if she lingered downstairs, Fabian would want to talk about what they had seen, and she didn't have the mental energy to deal with his questions. She also knew that she would have to fill Amber in on what had happened, but that could wait until the morning.

A scant few hours later, Nina awoke to Amber rustling around in their room. It felt like she had just fallen asleep, but she got up anyway and got dressed. When she entered the kitchen, Fabian tried to catch her eye, but she kept her head down as she gathered her breakfast. She hurried out the door before anyone could stop her and walked over to the school. She smiled at Mr. Sweet as she passed him in the hall. She had spent more time with Eddie's mom over the summer than his dad, but she had seen him when he had come to visit his son. She knew things between father and son were still somewhat awkward, but they were working on mending their relationship. Sweet was aware of her and Eddie's Egyptian activities, but he was happier not knowing specifics, trusting his son to tell him if anyone was in any real danger. She put her stuff away in her locked and headed over to her first class. She knew no one else would be there for a while, but she wanted to get a seat up front by the teacher so that no one would try to talk to her about anything.

True to form, Mara was the first to arrive. Nina had counted on that and waved the other girl over.

"Good morning Mara. Sleep well last night?" She patted the seat next to her in invitation and Mara obligingly sat down.

"Actually," Mara answered, "now that you mention it, I did have a rather restless sleep. I remember waking up around midnight, feeling really chilled, and after that, I couldn't really sleep that well. I had the strangest dream too."

"Oh? What was it about?" Nina replied casually as she looked pointedly down at her hands.

Mara hesitated for a moment before she responded.

"Well it was very odd. There were a bunch of snakes, and they were appearing from the sand and slithering into the river, but everything that they passed withered and turned to dust. It was very unsettling."

Nina nervously laughed before glancing around. She had hoped that by having Mara sit with her, she wouldn't have to think about what was coming, but it seemed reminders lurked everywhere she turned. Thankfully, the teacher had walked in, so Nina didn't have to come up with a response. She didn't think she could even if she tried.

* * *

Eddie had just known Nina was going to freak out. She had been putting up a brave face, but everything they had seen over the summer had scared her. Hell, it had scared him. Some days, he felt like the only reason he didn't fall apart was because he knew he had her supporting him. They both knew that what they had seen last night was only a harbinger of what was to come, so he understood her sudden standoffish behavior. She was at the center of what was to come, and even if they only knew bits and pieces, they understood enough to know that sacrifices would have to be made. Did it make him a bad person if he was almost anticipating getting everything out in the open? Fabian was going to be furious and would definitely hate him for a while, but the sooner he knew everything, the sooner they would be able to move past it.

He probably should have resisted more. Fabian would certainly think so when he found out. But it was inevitable. It wouldn't have mattered how much they tried to fight it, eventually they would have given in to their feelings. Not physically of course. They valued their respective partners too much. But they both knew how they felt about each other. The fallout from when Patricia and Fabian learned everything that had been hidden from them would be immense. Neither he nor Nina wanted to hurt their friends. Of course, they didn't. However, it seemed that no matter how they handled the situation, someone was going to get their heart broken.

Eddie hated that he was going to hurt Patricia. She had been there for him in a very weird time in his life and she was such a good person who deserved the absolute best. He just knew that he couldn't be that for her anymore. He was also aware that he might Fabian's friendship for good. That killed him because Fabian had been first real friend at Anubis, but there had always been some tension between them where Nina was concerned. There had been a connection between them from the first time they spoke, but she and Fabian had had a thing going at the time, so he had backed off. He couldn't back off this time. Nina wouldn't let him if he tried. He would mourn the loss of his friendship with his roommate should Fabian choose not to forgive him, but he couldn't let what he had with Nina go. So he would wait until Nina had processed everything they had seen the night before, and when she was ready, they could decide what they would do next.

He could tell she had finally come to a decision when she kept him back in the classroom after the bell rung. She worried at her lip for a moment before she began to speak.

"So, I think we should tell Sibuna everything we've found out. Now that our visions have begun to come to pass, it's only a matter of time before they find out everything anyway, and I'd rather tell them on our terms."

"Are you sure?" probed Eddie cautiously. "Patricia might take it okay, but you know that Fabian will not. From a purely practical standpoint, he is our best researcher, and we might need his help to stop whatever is coming."

Nina hesitated before continuing determinedly.

"I know that it's a risk, but we were friends before we were anything else, and I just hope he cares enough about me, about all of us, that he will be able to put his personal feelings aside. I know it's a risk, but we have to trust him or there is no way he will ever trust us again."

Eddie looked down and shook his head before looking up at her through his lashes.

"You're right. Of course you're right, you are always right. How did a putz like me end up with someone as smart as you?" he asked with a crooked grin.

"I don't know." She smiled up at him bemusedly. "Just got lucky, I guess." She paused for a moment before growing serious again.

"I am worried though. We know so little about what's coming, but I keep having nightmares of the death and destruction that whatever it is will cause if we don't stop it. I just wish we could see more."

He studied her face for a moment before pulling her into a comforting hug.

"We were destined for each other, in every time, in every life. No matter what happens, no matter what comes, you will always have me."

As they held each other, he ran an hand through her hair, wishing that they could stay like that forever.

* * *

Fabian was practically buzzing with excitement. Another Egyptian mystery for them to solve. It was torture to sit through class when all he wanted to do was sprint to the Frobisher library and see what information it contained about the latest threat. Before coming to Anubis House, he never had any interest in Egyptian mythology, but now it seemed like he could never know enough. It also helped that he and Nina had become close in the first place because they were solving a mystery together, so maybe this would be an opportunity for them to reconnect. He had felt the strain on their relationship since almost the moment it began again, and he knew that if something didn't change between them soon, they might have to call it quits for good. This investigation might be their last chance.

Now that class was over, he desperately wanted to grab Nina and figure out what exactly they had seen in the temple. There was no time like the present, so he looked around for her, but didn't see her. Class had already been out for about fifteen minutes, so he decided to go back into the classroom to see if she was still there. He walked in, only to see her an Eddie in an embrace.

"What exactly is going on here?" he shouted as he stormed over to the pair and pushed them apart. To his chagrin, Nina only sighed and pursed her lips before turning to him.

"We need to talk."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Disclaimer: all characters and plot points from House of Anubis belong to Nickelodeon; don't own, don't sue

Nina watched as Fabian's features shuttered. Even though he could be quick to anger, he never held on to his anger and was fairly quick to forgive. The eerie blankness on his face scared her more than his prior anger because she had never seen him like that before. Anger she could have dealt with because his anger was predictable. She had no idea what to do with his complete lack of emotion.

"So," he said stiffly, "what going on here then?"

Eddie walked toward Fabian carefully, hands raised slightly to show he meant to harm.

"Remember how we told you we'd started to have visions and that sometimes they come true? Well," he glanced at Nina quickly before continuing, "We saw what happened last night before it happened. And that was only the beginning. There's a darkness coming for us, for Nina really, and unless we stop it, it's going to devour everything in its path."

Fabian's face furrowed in frustration.

"Okay, well if that's the case, why didn't you tell me this when you told me the other stuff? It seems like this is a big issue, so why didn't you tell me right away? And what does that have to do with Eddie hugging you Nina?"

Nina took a moment to gather herself. She knew that what she was about to say would hurt him, but it would hurt him even more if she drew it out and let him believe things were the same as they were before.

"I didn't tell you because that it wasn't the only thing we saw. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to lie to you and I know that I've been lying by omission, but if I told you about this and pretended like it was the only thing we had seen I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. But Fabian, there are some things we saw that you aren't going to want to hear about."

She could practically feel Fabian's frustration with how cryptic she was being about everything. 'Time to rip off the band-aid I guess,' she thought to herself.

"We also had a vision, well several visions, of the others. When they said that Eddie and I had a destiny, that was kind of an understatement. We're star crossed, Fabian, and in the past, anyone who has gotten in the way of that, intentionally or not, well, let's just say their story never ended happily. I won't do you the disservice of pretending that we're doing this entirely for your safety because that wouldn't be true, but I do think in another life, we could have been happy together, you and I."

"It's not just destiny for me, man." Eddie interjected from where he was standing by the door. He had edged over there while the other two were talking, seemingly taking it upon himself to guard the classroom from any unwelcome ears.

"I don't know that it will mean anything to you but for what it's worth, it's not just some self-fulfilling prophecy for me. I really do love her."

Fabian stood in stony silence before walking over to face the wall. He leaned against it for a moment before collecting himself and turning back around, all traces of emotion once again absent from his face. When he spoke, his tone was all business.

"What can you tell me about this threat?"

* * *

Amber wasn't stupid. She may play up the dumb blonde stereotype, but underneath the façade, she was very perceptive. She knew that Nina was hiding something from her and that whatever it was had to do with Eddie. Nevertheless, she trusted her friend and was willing to wait until Nina was ready to share.

What Amber didn't know was _how_ Eddie was involved. For most of the time Sibuna had existed, Fabian had been Nina's main confidant. Since Eddie had been revealed as her Osirian, it seemed that Fabian was less in the loop. Amber couldn't tell if the new intimacy between them was only because of their shared fate or if it was indicative of Nina's shifting feelings. She would always be on Nina's team no matter the outcome, provided that there was in fact a choice to be made. She just hoped that her friend knew what she was doing because she didn't want her to do something she would regret.

However, when she found Fabian sitting in the common room, glaring at the wall, it was clear that Nina had come clean about whatever it was that she had been doing with Eddie. She sat primly in the chair next to him.

"So, she told you."

Fabian spun to face her with an accusatory look on his face.

"You knew?"

"No," she shot back, "but I knew she was something going on and that it involved Eddie, which, if prior incidents are any indication, you would not be able to keep quiet. You've always been insecure when it comes to the two of them."

"No, I haven't," mumbled Fabian under his breath"

"Don't lie to yourself, you have and you know it," replied Amber sharply before continuing, "So. What have they been up to?"

"I don't really know. They wouldn't tell me much. They want to wait until they can speak to us all at once."

He paused for a moment and frowned.

"You know, this just occurred to me, but we saw something happen last night, and I didn't think much of it at the time, but when Nina saw it, she said that ghosts had escaped the afterlife. And it's a logical explanation, but there was nothing that we saw that would lead her to that conclusion. Unless she already knew what was going to happen."

"Ghosts, huh," Amber said shakily. "Well at least the dead can't be worse to deal with than Victor, right?"

Fabian ran his hands through his hair before he responded. "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Amber. I've never seen Nina so anxious, and if she's right, this might be more than we're equipped to handle. We've gotten really lucky so far, with everything that we've faced, that no one has gotten seriously hurt. I'm just afraid our luck is about to run out."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Disclaimer: all characters and plot points from House of Anubis belong to Nickelodeon; don't own, don't sue

Fabian had never been comfortable not knowing things, so instead of stewing about the tragedy his social life had become, he set off to the Frobisher Library to see what he could discover about the light they had seen at the temple in the woods. He wanted to focus on what he could control, and if there was anything he knew with absolute certainty he was good at, it was researching obscure Egyptian lore.

After hours of flipping through dusty texts, he had little to show for it other than bloodshot eyes and the beginning of a tension headache. He had finally decided to call it quits and was putting back the books he had taken out when he noticed what seemed to be a carving of pelican with a long thin beak on the side of the bookshelf. When he pressed on it, the back of the shelf drew away to reveal a tome that looked like it had not been touched in almost a century.

As he carefully brushed the dust from the cover, he noticed that in the center of the book there was an embossed, stylized sun, and around the border were snakes of a similar style. Upon opening it, he recognized the spidery script of Robert Frobisher-Smythe. It was somewhat hard to decipher, but the further he read the more worried he became.

Frobisher-Smythe spoke of the Duat, the Egyptian name for the realm of the dead, and how only a force of great evil, or Isfet, could upset the balance of good, Ma'at, that served as the foundation for the barrier between the dead and the living. If that balance was disrupted, the Duat could leak the restless spirits of those condemned by Ammit, who was fed the hearts of the wicked by Anubis. If the spirits happened upon a living body, it could take control of it, although if it remained for too long, the body would begin to deteriorate and eventually die.

In the margins, Frobisher-Smythe had made handwritten annotations with his thoughts about possible causes for such a rift. He theorized that only a god would have the power to create such a massive disruption. He wouldn't say which god in particular he thought would do something like that, but he did allude to a 'usurper' out for revenge.

'Well,' Fabian mused internally, 'traditionally Set is thought of as the usurper of the Egyptian gods for his murder of Osiris, so he might be the one trying to break though the Duat.'

Fabian was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of a book hitting the table. When he looked up, a boy he had never seen before was sitting in the chair across from him. He had dark hair and eyes, and his tan skin suggested he had not spent much time in cloudy England. The smirk on his face reminded Fabian unsettlingly of Eddie when he had first appeared at the school.

"So, you're Fabian. I've been just dying to meet you," the boy drawled, smirk still firmly plastered on his face.

There was a faint lilt to his accent that made it hard to place where he was from. He spoke perfect British English, but there were undertones to it that suggested he had been raised somewhere outside of the British Isles.

"Uh yeah that's me. But um, how do you know my name, I don't think I've ever seen you around before- what are you doing?"

While Fabian had been talking, the boy had spun around Frobisher-Smythe's book to face himself and had started to flip through.

"Well, this is a much more interesting read than our literature assignment, I will give you that," he replied, hiding a smile behind the book as Fabian made attempts to snatch the book back.

"That's mine give it ba- wait what do you mean _our_ literature assignment? You don't go here I've never seen you before."

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm new, I just transferred here. This book is fascinating, who are these 'Acolytes of the Opposer' supposed to be?"

It took Fabian a second to catch up with everything the new guy had said, but when he did, he was even more confused than before.

"What are you talking about?" Fabian said with mounting frustration, "I've never heard of that before. And you still haven't told me how you know who I am."

"It's written on the bottom of the page here-" he began to read with an mocking deep and serious tone, "'The Acolytes of the Opposer will herald his return on the heels of the Harbingers.' Sorry I had to make some minor vocabulary assumptions based on intent because some of the words don't really translate into English very well."

It was at this point that Fabian finally had his property returned to him so he could be shown the passage in question. 'No wonder I missed this before,' he thought to himself, 'it's in Hieroglyphics.'

"You can read that?" Fabian asked, impressed despite himself.

Oddly enough, it was that begrudging compliment that caused the arrogant façade of the newcomer to slip slightly. He fidgeted with his hands slightly before replying. "Yeah well, I'm Egyptian so it seemed a more relevant choice than Latin or Greek for a classical language focus."

Before Fabian could blink, the mask had reasserted itself and the smirk was back.

"Since I know your name it's only fair you know mine. I'm Rami Elmahdy. And I know your name because the headmaster assigned you to show me around. He was surprisingly spot on about where I could find you."

As his new classmate spoke, Fabian quickly and carefully shoved the precious book into his bag and began to gather his belongings. As much as he appreciated Rami's help, he needed to find Nina right away and tell her what he had learned. No matter the tension and awkwardness between then, she important to him. Until this new catastrophe that was upon them had been dealt with, she would not be safe.

In an effort to flee quickly without being impolite, Fabian started to mumble out excuses about a study group he forgot about and they could meet later to show him around. Rami didn't seem offended, so Fabian turned and rushed away, already mentally outlining the facts he needed to relate. Had he looked back over his shoulder, he would have seen that the other boy was watching him leave with a calculating look on his face.

As Fabian was learning information from an unlikely source, Nina was making an interesting discovery of her own. After yet another emotionally exhausting conversation with Eddie and Fabian, she wanted nothing more than crawl into bed and not come out until everything was okay again. Since that was neither a plausible nor especially mature way to handle her problems, she decided a short nap would have to suffice. No sooner had she drifted off than she found herself back in the peculiar temple she and the boys had discovered the day before.

There was another woman in the clearing with her. Nina knew she had never met her before, but something about her was evocative of her deceased mother. She wore a white beaded dress and clearly had dark hair, but it was harder to make out much more than that as she would seem to fade from view when Nina tried to look directly at her. It was almost as if she were a mirage; she was clear out of the corner of her eye, but from head on her image would become indistinct. Just as Nina began to wonder if the woman was really there at all, she spoke.

"Hello, my child. My name is Ma'at. And no, I am not actually here, but I felt it necessary to contact you in the land of slumber. I have much information to impart."

'Well that answers that question, I guess,' Nina though to herself, 'Wait does that mean she can hear me? And I thought Maat was the Egyptian concept of balance and order, not an actual person.'

When it became clear Nina was too baffled to speak the woman continued.

"To answer your question, yes I can hear you. As we are in your unconscious mind, all your thoughts and fears, everything that makes you who you are, it is all woven into the fabric of this reality. For someone such as myself, I cannot help but be aware of it. As to your second question, Ma'at is a concept. However, it is also me. The universe is not so restrictive that both cannot be true.

The goddess, for that was clearly what she must be, turned to look at the temple. As she did, Nina felt a brief swell of apprehension she knew was not her own. 'This whole awareness thing goes both ways it seems.' As if on cue, Ma'at glanced back at her sharply. Nina got a feeling of surprise before the connection was sharply severed. The goddess sighed, but must have decided it wasn't worth dealing with, as she continued.

"I come to bring you a message. You know of the harbingers, but you are unaware of the evil that is yet to come. Beware the acolytes for they will take unexpected form. They will seek to spread chaos to bring about Isfet, and with it, the Opposer. But do not fear, for not all disorder is bad. Ma'at cannot exist without Isfet just like illumination has no meaning without shadow to give it contrast. Always be wary, but do not let that cloud your heart as it might prevent you from recognizing your true allies."

Ma'at over her shoulder again, and Nina didn't need a connection to be able to tell she was worried. The goddess reached over and grasped her by the arm firmly, her form somehow becoming even less distinct than it had been before.

"I have done what I can for you, but I must go before he realizes I am here. He is much closer than I had feared."

With those ominous parting words, she was gone before Nina could even utter a protest. She shivered and rubbed her hand on the place Ma'at had touched her. Since the goddess had faded, it seemed the dream had gotten colder somehow, as if her presence had been holding something at bay. At that moment, the moon receded behind the clouds and the shadows began to creep up on her. She didn't know how, but she knew if they reached her it would be bad. Just when they were about to make contact with her foot, she shot up in bed, gasping for breath. Knowing Eddie needed to hear what had happened immediately, she got up and made for her door to go find him. It must have been her imagination, but she could swear she heard faint screeches of anger as she fled the room.

Eddie rose in shock as he saw Nina tear down the stairs like the hounds of hell themselves were on her heels. 'Actually,' he thought to himself, 'with everything we've seen, that's not even that improbable.'

As he drew closer, he saw that she was shaking slightly and drew her into his arms. They stayed like that, just holding each other until he felt the shaking recede and then sat them both on the couch.

"Is this something we can talk about here or should we find somewhere else?" he asked, glancing around for any possible prying ears. Finding none, he turned back to her and waited for her to collect herself enough to reply. After a few shaky breaths, she did.

"Honestly it doesn't really matter. Almost everyone in this house knows somethings, and the, like, two people who don't would probably just think I was being crazy. Anyway, I think a goddess just visited me in my dream."

Eddie looked at her in shock as he let that statement sink in. "What? I didn't realize that was possible. Even we haven't really shared dreams like that, just seen the same thing at the same time. What did she want?"

"She wanted to warn me. We were back at that temple that we found, only it felt like I was looking through a filter because it was hard to identify what was happening. She told me when we saw those ghosts break free of the Duat, that was only the beginning. More are coming and those are the ones we have to be on the lookout for. Apparently, they're trying to unleash some great evil by possessing people and causing chaos. And that wasn't even the worst part. After she left, it felt like something else was trying to invade my dream. I'm not what it was, but I'm worried it was that 'great evil' she mentioned."

Eddie rubbed her shoulder in sympathy. "Well whatever it was it didn't get in and we can figure out the rest of this. It's kind of our thing, remember?" he said while smiling crookedly at her. Then he paused. On the back of her shoulder, he felt slightly raised lines, almost as if she had a tattoo that was still healing.

"What happened to your shoulder?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she responded, puzzled.

"Well, it feels like there are, like, lines on your shoulder or something."

Frowning, she pulled her shirt back over her shoulder a little to look. Sure enough, there seemed to be faint lines that had appeared on her skin. She grabbed Eddie's hand, pulled him into the bathroom he shared with the other guys, and started to unbutton her shirt."

"Woah, I mean not that I'm not super interested in where you're going here, but do you really think this is the right time?" he asked. Even though they had cleared the air somewhat with Fabian, he didn't think his goodwill would last if he walked in on them _in flagrente_.

Nina rolled her eyes at him. "Relax, I just want a better idea of what has suddenly appeared on my skin."

Sure enough, when she pulled the rest of her blouse down over her shoulders, Eddie could make out a very faint impression of what seemed to be stylized hawk wings spreading across her shoulders and down her arms.

"Ma'at," Nina murmured.

"Mutt? What are you talking about?"

"No not mutt, _Ma'at_ ," Nina replied while pulling her shirt back on a buttoning it up, "That was the name of the goddess in my dream. Before she left, she grabbed my arm. I thought I felt a faint tingling sensation at the time, but I figured that was just because she was a goddess or something. Now I think she was giving me this, maybe as some form of protection. She did say she had done all she could for me. Maybe this is what she meant."

"Well goddess blessing or no goddess blessing, we should go find the others because there is clearly a lot we need to tell them."


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N Disclaimer: all characters and plot points from House of Anubis belong to Nickelodeon; don't own, don't sue_

As Fabian burst into the living room, he and Nina looked at each other and simultaneously blurted out "I need to tell you something."

Nina wasn't sure what her face looked like, but if it was anything like the expression Fabian had, it must be pretty hilarious. In response, Fabian blushed and mumbled that she should go first.

"Actually, I think we should probably wait until we can talk to all of Sibuna at once. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have to repeat myself." She paused, contemplating, and then continued. "Now that I think about it, we really haven't told much of anything to anybody have we?"

As the three of them headed towards the door, they ran into Patricia who was making her way back from class. She and Eddie faced off awkwardly, neither one wanting to incite argument, but also both unwilling to make the first overture. Finally, Nina took pity on them and greeted Patricia.

"Hey Patricia, great timing! We were just about to send out the summons for a Sibuna meeting. Have you seen Alfie?" Nina said, forcing her smile to be genuine. She had no doubts about her relationship with Eddie, but she knew that he and Patricia needed to have a real talk before they could truly resolve their issues and be at peace with each other. Chances were good, however, that with how stubborn they both were, it might be a while.

After a second, Patricia replied.

"Yeah I saw him and Jerome walking back from class together. They will probably be here soon, if you want to wait for him." It was clear that she hoped that was not what they wanted. She seemed uncomfortable at the thought of having to make small talk for who knows how long. Luckily for her, Fabian had something else in mind.

"Actually, that's what I needed to talk to you about, Nina. There's something I found when I was in the library. I have the book with me, but I don't think we should talk about it here. We can text Amber and Alfie to meet us, but I think we should go somewhere private before Victor comes back and gets suspicious."

He hesitated and glanced at Nina, before continuing.

"I think we should bring them to the temple."

"No."

They all turned, surprised to see that it was Eddie who had spoken. He continued.

"Nina, do you really think that it's a good idea to go back there, after what you just saw? You have no idea what that was that thing you felt was. It might really be there, and this time you won't be able to escape by waking up."

It was clear just by looking at him that Eddie felt strongly about this. His features were tense, and his arms were crossed, fingers clenching his sleeve as if he was trying to stop himself from reaching for her. Nina felt an unbearable fondness well up inside her. It was just like Eddie to try and protect her from something neither of them even really understood. It was times like this when she was reminded what she loved about him. He tried so hard to pretend that he didn't care about anything, but in unguarded moments like this, it was clear that he felt so much he was overflowing with it. She stepped forward and cupped his face in her hand, smiling slightly. If only he knew she would do just as much to keep him from harm.

"I know what the risk is Eddie, but this place is important, and we can't avoid it forever. Besides," she added with a sardonic smile, "we both know I'm not destined to die today"

His face fell and he looked away. It pained her to hurt him like that, but he knew their future as well as she did. It would do him no good to deny what they both knew was coming.

She turned back to the others, both to explain and to let Eddie have a moment to collect himself.

"This is part of what I wanted to tell you, but I had a dream of the temple which has given us something to be concerned about. But we can talk about that once we get there." Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Eddie's hand and pulled him along with her as she left the house and set out towards the clearing, knowing without looking that Fabian and Patricia had followed behind them. Without releasing Eddie, she pulled out her phone and hit the second number on her speed dial.

"Amber? I need you to meet me at the edge of the woods. It's urgent."

* * *

Patricia was feeling highly uncomfortable. Perhaps more uncomfortable than at any other point in her life thus far. She, Nina, Fabian, and Eddie were walking together through the woods towards some clearing that everyone seemed to be familiar with except for her. At least she didn't seem to be the only one who felt the tension within the group. In fact, Nina seemed to be the only one oblivious to it, too focused on what was ahead. Fabian was watching the couple in front of him but clearly trying hard to make it look like he wasn't. Eddie was just trying to pretend he couldn't feel the gazes of Fabian and herself on his back.

Absently, Patricia almost felt bad for him. She honestly didn't feel anger towards him for moving on so quickly, but it was clear he was unaware of that from how careful he was being not to interact with her. She didn't feel any urgency to disabuse him of that notion, however, because although she didn't hold a grudge, she felt no hurry to rekindle their friendship. She stood by their decision to break up, but there was a lingering sense of hurt that had yet to fade. From his "unobtrusive" observation, it was clear Fabian had not yet gotten that far, the part of Patricia that was still sore felt indignation on his behalf. She knew that there was no good way his and Nina's situation could have played out, but that didn't erase the hurt he was feeling. Nina was Fabian's first love and had Eddie not shown up, they probably would have been together still. As far as he was concerned, nothing between them had changed, so when she and Eddie had grown so close so quickly, it must have come out of nowhere. Patricia hadn't had feelings for Eddie for as long as Fabian did for Nina, but she still understood some of his "emotional whiplash."

As they walked, Patricia realized that they were in a part of the forest that she had never seen before. Just as she was about to ask where exactly they were going, Nina stopped walking. She turned and faced her companions with a determined expression on her face.

"Okay," she began, "Eddie, Fabian, you both know the way from here, so you can lead Patricia there. I will go back and wait for amber and Alfie and then we will all meet in the clearing. Sound good?"

Predictably, Eddie had objections.

"I think I should come with you. We still don't know what your dream meant and that thing you felt could still be after you."

She smiled and squeezed his hand.

"You're right. We don't know what going on, but I need you to fill Fabian and Patricia in on what we talked about earlier. I know I can trust you to do this."

Eddie looked pained, but nodded in affirmation. Nina kissed him briefly and then pressed her forehead to his. She murmured something too quietly for Patricia and Fabian to hear, and then pulled away, eyes looking suspiciously moist. With a final nod their way, Nina turned and walked away into the gloom.

* * *

Eddie really wished that Nina had allowed him to come with her. He was concerned for her safety, that was a given these days, but he honestly just wanted to be anywhere but with the two particular people he was with. The only person on the entire earth that he would less want to talk to about his relationship with Nina was probably Victor. He and Patricia hadn't even had as messy a split as Nina and Fabian did, but it was still uncomfortable between them. He and Fabian were a whole other issue.

He understood the importance of the task Nina had asked of him, however, and he never wanted to do anything to let his other half down. He hated the cheesiness of that term of endearment, and he never would have used it were it not half so accurate. He hated to think about what the direction of his life would be without her in it. He had been so angry when he had first come to the school, raging at everything and everyone indeterminately. Nina was not the sole cause of his new outlook on life; his improving relationship with his father and new, healthy friendships had also contributed. But her love had given him stability and their destiny had given him purpose. He had grown enough as a person that he would not collapse without her support, and while he knew he could live without her, he would prefer not to have to.

While he had been drifting, thankfully Fabian had taken the lead in guiding them towards the clearing. Eddie had to suppress a shudder at the thought of it. He hadn't witnessed Nina's dream for himself, but his impression from their prior visit combined with how shaken his beloved had seemed when she had bolted down the stairs resulted in a healthy distrust of the place. as they drew closer to the clearing, Fabian slowed to a stop just short of entering. Clearly, he felt the same unease as Eddie did.

"So," Fabian began hesitantly, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, "what's this dream Nina needed to tell us about?"

"If it means what we think it does, then the Egyptian gods are much more involved in mortal life than we thought."

Eddie paused and took in the expressions on his companions faces. Patricia looked gobsmacked, which wasn't a surprise, but what was interesting was how unsurprised Fabian seemed. He was such an inherently logical guy that Eddie would have thought he would have resisted the idea of Egyptian deities being real, but he was behaving as if that was old news. Deciding to put that thought aside to deal with later, he continued.

"While Nina was sleeping, she encountered a goddess who told her that there is a dark force coming and that we're going to be overwhelmed by it unless we do something. She also gave Nina this invisible wing like tattoo on her back which is supposed to protect her somehow."

"Wait," Fabian cut in, "if it's invisible, how did you know it was there?"

"Umm, well… you see," Eddie stuttered our, trying to find a way to explain without making Fabian and Patricia mad at him.

Thankfully, before he could dig himself into a deeper hole, his phone rang.

"Oh thank God," he mumbled under his breath. "Amber, hi, what's going on?"

Amber's voice rang our tinnily through the phone.

"Eddie, what is going on? Nina texted me to meet her, but she hasn't shown up and when I call her it keeps going to voicemail."

All trace of levity left Eddie at once. He could barely hear his own voice past the sound of his suddenly racing heart as he responded to Amber, telling her they'd be there soon. He hung up and put his phone away in a daze. Distantly, he was aware that Patricia and Fabian were talking to him, probably asking him what Amber had said, but he couldn't pull his thoughts together enough to form a response. It was all he could so to stop himself from collapsing against the tree behind him. Eventually, when it seemed Patricia might hit him if he didn't say something, he was able to pull himself together enough to respond.

"Nina," he rasped, "she's missing."

 _A/N #2 I've gone back through and made some edits. Most of them are just proofreading I should have done before, but I did adjust some stuff that fills in some plot holes. It doesn't really change any of the plot so there's no pressure to reread. I really just started writing it for myself because of the dearth of stories on this show, but I'm glad other people actually like it. Also, please tell me if you see a typo, I'm so bad at catching those and I'd love to fix them._


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N Disclaimer: all characters and plot points from House of Anubis belong to Nickelodeon; don't own, don't sue_

As Nina trudged through the woods, she mentally scolded herself for not taking the time to changer her shoes before leaving the house. She had been so anxious to do something, make some sort of progress, that she had forgotten she was still wearing her school shoes. Unfortunately, they had an exceptionally smooth tread on the bottom, and as a result, she was slipping and sliding on the muddy forest floor.

She was so focused on trying not to lose her footing that when she was yanked behind a tree, it caught her completely off guard. She tried to cry out, but before she could, a hand clamped over her mouth preventing her from making a sound. Craning her head to look at her assailant, she saw that it was a boy she had never seen before. He was about Eddie's height, but with a leaner build that was belied by the strength of his grip as he held her to his chest. As she watched, he put his finger to his lips and pointed behind her. At first glance, all she could see was a group of students walking along the edge of the woods. But as she looked more closely, she noticed a paint red haze surrounding their bodies.

"They're possessed," he whispered as he leaned forward to watch the students alongside her. He glanced at her again before continuing. "If I let you go, are you going to scream?"

She shook her head as forcefully as she could with his arm restricting her movement. He let her go but did not move away until the students had receded from view. Nina turned to face him and studied him guardedly.

"Who are you and how did you know that they were possessed? And was it really necessary to grab me like that?"

At that he actually looked somewhat remorseful and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"My apologies if I frightened you. I realize that my manor of approach left much to be desired, but I could not risk alerting the Acolytes to our position. My name is Rami and yours is Nina, right?"

If he had been hoping to reassure her, his words had the opposite effect. She crossed her arms defensively and frowned at him.

"You are, but you still haven't answered my other question. What are you doing here? How did you know my name? And why do you look so familiar to me?"

At her last question he perked up somewhat as if he had been hoping she might say something like that.

"Right to the point," he quipped, "I like that in a person. Well, what you are to Isis, I am to Set. I am familiar to you for the same reason that I knew who you were. You have been having premonitions, correct? I would assume I am in at least a few of yours since you have been in a multitude of mine. I knew who you were before I even set foot in the British Isles."

"That does answer a few of my questions," replied Nina begrudgingly, "and no offense, but isn't Set the bad guy in Egyptian mythology? Something about him cutting his brother up into a bunch of little pieces?"

Rami looked slightly chagrined at her response but rallied quickly.

"It all depends on your point of view I suppose. But yes, he often found himself in conflict with Isis and Osiris. There were times that he was on their side too, however. Actually, that is why he sent me. I have been having premonitions of rising chaos for months now, but only recently have they begun to come into focus. Then two weeks ago, Set sent me a warning that what I had been seeing would happen soon and that you would need me here."

"That's incredible!" Nina exclaimed; all thoughts of caution temporarily forgotten in the face of the new revelations. "I just got a warning from Ma'at earlier today. Did he say what was coming? Ma'at was cut off before she could tell me, but she seemed really scared."

At her words, his face darkened pensively. "He did not, and I have not been able to piece it together from my premonitions either. It is very odd, like something is clouding my vision. All the other parts are remarkably clear but as soon as its presence is made known, everything becomes murky." He shook his head slightly as if to clear his thoughts before continuing. "What Set did say was that he had dealt with it in the past and that I would have to finish what he started. Then he gave me this book of dark magic and sent me here."

"Magic? Can we actually use magic? Because I've never been able to when I haven't been possessed."

He chuckled and made some complicated hand gestures, each of which seemed to fuel the glowing ring that had formed around his fist. Tension seemed to build until finally he pointed his hands at one of the trees nearby and pushed. The glow left his hands and shot at the tree, and when it made contact the tree exploded into splinters.

"I probably should not have done that." He grimaced. "We really do not want to draw attention to our location in case the Acolytes come back."

Nina's life had been pretty weird over the past few years, but this was beyond the pale even by her ridiculous standards. It was pretty probable at this point that this Rami guy was telling the truth because who would make up a story like this? He seemed pretty confident in what he had learned from his visions, but hers had always been murky and unclear. She was honestly impressed he had been able to discern her name because she had never been able to make out more than a few words in a row. It had taken weeks of going over the dreams with Eddie to tentatively decide that the scene they would eventually see at the temple was ghosts escaping from the underworld, and even that was mostly based on context clues. Maybe she should go along with what he said until she found a reason not to. Trust but verify and all that.

"So, what else do you know about this coming threat?" she not so subtly probed.

He smiled slightly as if he had been expecting that question, and given his visions maybe he had, but continued without comment.

"When I was in Egypt, the God Set appeared to me in a dream, gave me this book and told me to come to this school because you would need my help to stop some great imbalance that was approaching. He also told me to be wary of the Acolytes we saw earlier, who are supposedly his servants on the mortal plane that recently escaped from the Underworld and are possessing people. Unfortunately, I have not had the time to study the magical tome, but it is a fair assumption that we will be able to discern more information about the imbalance from it if Set thinks it is important enough to give to me."

At that moment, they heard leaves rustling and twigs snapping from the direction where they had last seen the acolytes. Rami grabbed her arm, pulling her behind him as he began making those hand movements again, crafting a spell around them. Before he could finish, however, several figures burst through the bushes.

* * *

Eddie was freaking out. He was trying to do it quietly as to not alert his companions, but he was pretty sure he wasn't succeeding. Ever since Amber had told him that Nina hadn't shown up, every single worst-case scenario had been running through his head. Hell, he'd been worried about Nina since the second he had stepped off of the airplane, but when they'd seen those ghosts escape, that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach had intensified. He really wished that Nina would've agreed to stay in the US for their senior year like he'd wanted to, but he knew that she would never go for that. She was much too loyal to their Anubis friends to leave them to deal with a situation like this, especially since they had information the others didn't. Nevertheless, if she'd stayed back home, she probably wouldn't be missing right now. Even thinking the words made his anxiety spike, apparently.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he burst through the trees, almost running headlong into Amber. He hadn't realized that he'd been sprinting until he turned around to see Fabian and Patricia wheezing behind him, hands on their knees as they tried to catch their breath.

"Amber!" he cried out after steadying them both, "Have you heard anything from Nina yet?"

Amber pursed her lips, either at his inadvertent invasion of her personal space or his lack of proper greeting but didn't comment. He knew she was just as worried as he was. Well, maybe not quite just, but close enough.

"No Eddie, I have not heard from her in the five minutes since you hung up on me."

'Oh,' thought Eddie, 'That's what she's mad at me about. Oh well, I'm sure I'll have time to apologize after we've found Nina.'

Realizing she was looking for some sort of confirmation he had heard what she had said, he mumbled something indistinct before pulling out his phone to try calling Nina again. He had called her after Amber had called him, but like she had said, there was no answer. After reaching Nina's voicemail once again, Eddie swore and threw his phone at a tree. He regretted it as soon as he saw that his screen was cracked beyond repair and thus would be of no use if Nina tried to call him. He braced himself against the offending tree, shoulders heaving as he tried to reign in the panic attack he could feel building. He jumped slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder but relaxed slightly when he saw it was just Amber. The sympathetic smile she sent him made him question what she knew about his relationship with Nina, but before he could ask, she had already stepped back and started to take charge.

"Now we all know Nina is no damsel in distress, but let's go see where she's gotten off to, shall we?" Without waiting for a response, she looped her arm through his and pulled him back into the woods. He shot bewildered looks at the others, noticing for the first time that Alfie was also there, but they just shrugged back and followed him and Amber.

While they walked, Eddie was aware that his companions were talking to each other, but he was so focused on scanning the forest for any signs of Nina that he wasn't really paying them any attention. He didn't want to believe that Nina might be hurt, but he couldn't think of any other reason as to why she wouldn't be answering her phone. Thankfully, after not too long he saw drag marks in the dirt, heading off into a dense copse. He pulled Amber to a stop and put a finger to his lips, bringing the conversation around him to a halt. As if on cue, they all heard the sound of a loud explosion from the other side of the trees. Frantically, Eddie pulled a machete out from the sheath he had tucked in the back of his pants. Ignoring the frankly hilarious reactions of his friends at seeing such a large knife produced from nowhere, Eddie made no more attempts at subtly as he hacked away at the bramble that was separating him from a maybe in danger Nina.

When he finally crashed through the thicket, he was met with a scene literally out of his nightmares. A boy he recognized from one of his visons had imprisoned Nina in some sort of magical bubble he seemed to be generating from some very bizarre hand movements. With a cry of anger, he charged forward desperate to get to Nina, whatever the cost. In response, the other guy's movements sped up and a glowing shape began to form around his joined hands. Suddenly Nina burst forward and pushed herself between them, stopping both of the attacks in their tracks.

"Stop it!" she cried out, "You two idiots are on the same side. Don't be dumbasses and kill each other."

Feeling slightly put out that his daring rescue had apparently been for nothing, Eddie grasped her hand to pull her into an embrace. She let him hold her for a moment before breaking free and turning back to the other guy.

"I don't know if you recognize them from the visions or not, but these are the people who have been helping me. You can trust them." She urged him imploringly.

After studying her face for a moment, the other guy nodded his head and put his hands down. Somewhere behind Eddie, he heard Patricia voice what he had been thinking.

"Nina? Who the hell is this guy and why were his hands glowing?"

To Eddie's shock, it was Fabian who responded.

"This is Rami. He's new."

Nina looked at Fabian gratefully before continuing.

"Yes, thank you. This is Rami. He's been sent here by the god Set to help us with this threat that's coming. And his hands were glowing because he knows magic." She seemed inordinately excited by that last part, especially considering the circumstances, but Eddie figured there were other things to worry about at the moment. Although by Fabian's reaction to Nina's words, it seemed like he was missing some subtext.

"Nina," he hissed not very quietly, "I'm pretty sure Set _is_ the threat that's coming."

Rami actually seemed a little hurt by Fabian's words, but quickly schooled his expression back to one of bored nonchalance. Again, Nina jumped to the newcomer's defense.

"I considered that, and I can't really explain it, but I know he's here to help us." At that, she turned back to Eddie with a pleading look on her face. "I know you have no reason to trust him but trust me. I think he's actually on our side."

Just like that, Eddie's resistance crumbled.

"Of course, I trust you. I'm always Team Nina, no matter what that means."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N Disclaimer: all characters and plot points from House of Anubis belong to Nickelodeon; don't own, don't sue

Nina was shocked that Eddie had yielded as easily as he had. He had been pretty overprotective of her since summer break, but as soon as he asked him to trust her, he'd backed down. It was obvious he didn't trust Rami by the wary glances he kept shooting her new friend, but he kept his thoughts to himself as the group walked through the woods to the temple in the clearing. She felt kind of bad that Amber, Alfie, and Patricia had been led from place to place with almost no information about what was going on. However, despite all expectations to the contrary, none of them had kicked up a fuss about being left in the dark and seemed content to let it go for the time being. Continuing the pattern of aberrant behavior, Fabian, who somehow seemed to know Rami somehow, was currently whisper-yelling at him about keeping secrets and 'could he really read hieroglyphics.' Nina found it pretty funny that Fabian seemed so comfortable with someone he couldn't possibly know very well, especially since he was usually pretty passive with new people. She hid her face in Eddie's shoulder so that Fabian wouldn't see her laughing at him. He was pretty sensitive about things like that, and if he thought she was making fun of him for talking to Rami, he would withdraw into himself and never open up to him again. Even though they weren't together anymore, she still wanted him to be happy, and she definitely didn't want to be the one to come between him and said happiness.

Fabian could be pretty intense when he decided he was your friend, and in this case, Nina thought that might be for the best. Rami could use a friend who wouldn't let him get away with his cryptic bullshit and Fabian needed someone to help him loosen up and think outside the box. She hoped Rami stuck around long enough for friendship to develop between the two. Speaking of friendship, Nina had been avoiding Amber's knowing gaze. Since she had talked Eddie down from trying to fight Rami earlier, she should have known she wouldn't be able to hide their mutual feelings from someone who made it her personal business to know everything about everyone else's romantic lives. That Eddie was holding on to her like she would vanish if he let go probably didn't help them to keep a low profile either.

'Oh well,' she thought to herself, 'too many people know now for our relationship to really stay concealed.'

Now that there was no point trying to keep them a secret, she let herself lean into Eddie and let his steady presence comfort her and calm her shaky limbs. Even though it turned out that she had nothing to fear from Rami, she was still coming down off of the adrenaline high that accompanied her earlier panic. It spoke volumes about her life that she was so familiar with danger that she knew the signs of an adrenaline crash. She saw the look of hurt that Fabian had at their suddenly intimate position, but she ignored him. At the moment, she had bigger things to worry about than protecting his injured feelings.

Nina's heartrate had almost returned to its normal resting rate when she heard the crack of a stick somewhere behind them. In such complete synchronization it looked practiced, Eddie and Rami whipped out their respective weapons, Eddie had a machete and Rami a curved sword she hadn't seen before.

"You know, you really should wield that with your right hand," Rami whispered as they crept forward towards the sound.

The affronted look Eddie shot him had Nina struggling to stifle laughter.

"Thanks, but I'm left-handed," Eddie snarked back. He used the tip of his knife to push aside the shrubbery and get a better glimpse of whatever had been following them. Upon seeing who it was, Eddie cursed and gestured to Rami to follow him back to the group.

"It's Victor," he hissed once they were all clustered together. "I saw him hiding behind a tree."

'How did he know we were here,' Nina wondered to herself. 'Had he been following them the entire time? If so, why? Does he know about the temple?'

Fabian said aloud what she had been thinking. "Do you think he knows where we are going? If he doesn't, we can't risk leading him there; we'll have to turn around."

"I don't really know what's going on here, but if whatever-it-is is important, I agree that we can't let Victor find it," Patricia interjected from where she was standing next to Alfie. Nina tried to catch her eyes, but Patricia looked away.

'Damn it,' Nina thought to herself. 'Patricia must have seen me and Eddie and figured everything out.' Now didn't seem like the right time, but Nina vowed to herself that she would try to talk to Patricia at some point. She really didn't want Eddie to come between their friendship, and she hoped that once she explained everything, Patricia would eventually be able to forgive her.

Nina then realized that while she had been spacing out, Rami had begun talking.

"I don't know who this Victor person is, but if you say he could be a threat, we must return to somewhere he cannot overhear us. I need to do some research about how to exorcise the damned spirits from those they have possessed. I will return to the library for now, but we should all reconvene later to discuss everything that needs to be done."

He handed Nina the book from Set.

"Take this. I cannot help with that right now, but it still might be useful to gain background knowledge on the subject. You would be surprised how much you might already know."

"Actually, Rami," Fabian piped in, "the founder of the school had a private library accessible through our kitchen. There might be information in there that we won't be able to find in the library. I could show you if you like?"

"Yes, actually. That could be quite useful." Rami responded cheerfully as he clapped Fabian on the shoulder. The two of them turned back towards the house and started walking together.

"I'm going to head on over to the library," Nina said, looking slightly apologetically at Eddie. While she would love to stay with him to figure out more of this magic stuff, she didn't want to rub their relationship in Patricia's face. "I want to start looking through this book to see if there's anything useful that Rami might not have noticed. He hasn't been dealing with our particular brand of crazy, so he might have missed something because he doesn't have the context for it like we do."

Taking a hopeful glance up at Patricia, Nina was disappointed to see that her friend was still avoiding her gaze. Sighing internally, she came to a decision. Screw what she had thought earlier, clearly, she needed to clear the air with Patricia now, before she had time to build up her emotional walls again.

"Patricia, do you want to come with me to help? You've been dealing with this just as long as I have?" Patricia looked up at her in shock, but before she could protest, Nina grabbed her hand and tugged her along the trail towards campus. As she marched determinedly, she could hear Alfie's voice as he realized he wouldn't get lunch unless he hurried, and saw him speed off after Fabian and Rami, back to the house. Nina couldn't help but feel sympathy when she realized that with everyone else gone, she had left Eddie to face Amber's interrogation alone. 'He always says he wants to protect me,' she thought to herself sardonically, 'I guess he's getting the opportunity.'


End file.
